As I predicted on Tuesday afternoon, I had absolutely no time for a run on Tuesday after work. I thought that maybe I might have enough time if I got out fo work exactly on time, but alas, I left late and got home to find Annie already camping out, playing with the TiVo. So instead of cramming the gym in, I ended up watching some TV and spending the last bit of QT with her before I drove her down to Arlington.
She left for Rome yesterday but due to thunderstorms in New York and the fact that she was flying an airline run by Italians, her flight left 6 hours late and arrived in Rome at 5 PM local time (11 AM here in Baltimore). I imagine that by the time she got to the hotel, she collapsed on the bed. I imagine I will hear from her tomorrow at some point.
So, I advanced in my training program again last night. I bumped up from 9 minutes of running to 13 minutes of running. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I guess taking it slow is paying off in that it’s letting my body adjust to the increased running time at a more comfortable pace. The last thing I want is to not only get exhausted during a run, but then to start getting stress injuries because I’m physically not able to adapt. As of right now, I’ve been lucky to be free of even basic injuries like bad muscle joint soreness. Let’s hope it stays that way.
Since I missed Tuesday, I will be running tonight. I don’t think it’ll be that big of a deal at this point because even though I’ll be running four days in a row, with Saturday being the long run of 60 minutes, I’m not running long enough or far enough or fast enough for it to injure me. Sunday will have to be a complete day of rest, though. Not even my Sunday bike ride unless I feel awesome.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Kick it Up a Notch!
Sundays are my off day since Saturdays are my long run day. However, rather than sit around all day and waste it, I usually look to get some time logged on the bike. Ten miles of hard riding is just enough for me on these days. I start out getting loose and up to my target speed of about 20 mph. Then, about 2 miles into it, I do a long hill. The bike has levels where Level 1 is the easiest. I usually ride at around Level 6 or 7 and on the hills I increase the tension to about 14, maxing out at 16 at the top. Sometimes I’ll do sprints around mile 7 or 8, but not always.
I’d like to get going on some strength training during those days as well. I take two days off a week from running right now (Sundays and Thursdays) although that will change once I get through this initial 30-minute program in mid-July. At that point I will probably move to running just four days a week and cross training twice with one day of complete rest. At that point I’ll start doing some speed work one day a week as well. All in good time, though.
For now, I’m building my training up from scratch and the next step of that is to learn some basic strength training exercises to add to my Sundays. I’m thinking maybe some weight training as well as some exercises targeting the abs and core. I think I will schedule a training session at my gym to get the weight training program underway.
Yesterday I reached the next stage of the 30 minute program: 13 minutes running, 2 minutes walking done twice. It was a good run and I didn’t get really tired. At one point I felt winded, but I pushed through it and ran on. Not bad. Today I think I am going to have to miss my running as I need to take Annie to her sister’s apartment in Arlington tonight. We’re leaving around 7 PM, which doesn’t leave a lot of time to get home, spend the hour at the gym, come back, shower and be ready to go by 7. So, I will have to make Thursday a running day to make up for it, I think. That’s OK though. Annie leaves for Rome tomorrow and will be gone a month so I’ll have plenty of time to concentrate on running and getting faster.
I’d like to get going on some strength training during those days as well. I take two days off a week from running right now (Sundays and Thursdays) although that will change once I get through this initial 30-minute program in mid-July. At that point I will probably move to running just four days a week and cross training twice with one day of complete rest. At that point I’ll start doing some speed work one day a week as well. All in good time, though.
For now, I’m building my training up from scratch and the next step of that is to learn some basic strength training exercises to add to my Sundays. I’m thinking maybe some weight training as well as some exercises targeting the abs and core. I think I will schedule a training session at my gym to get the weight training program underway.
Yesterday I reached the next stage of the 30 minute program: 13 minutes running, 2 minutes walking done twice. It was a good run and I didn’t get really tired. At one point I felt winded, but I pushed through it and ran on. Not bad. Today I think I am going to have to miss my running as I need to take Annie to her sister’s apartment in Arlington tonight. We’re leaving around 7 PM, which doesn’t leave a lot of time to get home, spend the hour at the gym, come back, shower and be ready to go by 7. So, I will have to make Thursday a running day to make up for it, I think. That’s OK though. Annie leaves for Rome tomorrow and will be gone a month so I’ll have plenty of time to concentrate on running and getting faster.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Weekly "Long" Run
After a tough run yesterday, today was much better. Yesterday I got to the gym about 6 PM after ditching work and taking a power nap of about 15 minutes. By Friday, I’m so damned tired that I need a nap just to stay awake later than 10:30. Anyway, I stretched and did my usual pre-run routine but within five minutes, the muscles on the outside of my leg, just above my ankles, began to hurt and then burn. They continued to burn throughout the run, which really made me mad. I thought I’d be able to run through it, since usually my calves hurt for the first few minutes of each run and then stop once they get nice and warmed up. But no, not this time. Those muscles killed me the entire time. And when I got to the point where I could walk for a minute, they just 10 times worse. It sucked.
I’m not sure what the problem was. I think maybe I was running too much on the outside of my foot because after the run, during my cool down, I made an effort to walk more on the middle of my foot and the muscles seemed to respond well to that. All in all, I was not happy with that run.
Today, I went to the gym around 1 PM. I stretched then walked my usual 5 minute warm up at a gradually increasing pace up to about 3.5 mph. Saturdays are my “long” run days, and will continue to be once I begin running in the mornings and outdoors. Today was no different. Instead of the usual 30 minutes, I jacked it up to all of 60 minutes. I kept the same formula, though (9 minutes running, 1 minute walking). And just like yesterday, I got to about the one mile mark and those same muscles started burning again! I started to get pissed off but then focused on assessing the problem and trying to fix it so as not to ruin my run. My novice opinion is that I was running with some tension in my legs in addition to running too far on the outside of my foot. The combination put too much stress on those muscles, making them hurt. I think this because at one point, I just tried and release all the tension in my legs and “just run”. I find that as I run, I build up tension in my shoulders and arms, which I have to be mindful to release. I think that was the case here in my legs as well. Once I did that and just ran and didn’t worry so much about my stride, etc, the pain started to subside. A few miles later, it was gone and I was feeling better and getting into a nice groove. The trick will be seeing if I can replicate that solution on Monday (my next running day; tomorrow is an off day with some biking).
Anyway, once I got that out of the way, I was able to focus on actually running. I finally broke the 5 mile barrier today (5.2 miles in total), which was very encouraging. No real problems, although I started to get tired after the 40 minute mark. However, I pressed on and only had to walk an extra 30 seconds on the final walking period. Other than that, I kept my speed of 5.3 mph (an improvement of 0.6 mph from where I began three weeks ago!) throughout the run. Overall I was very pleased.
Like I said, tomorrow is all about cross training with the stationary bike. Annie leaves for Rome on Wednesday, which will give me a month to concentrate on running and building a more effective cross training schedule involving some weight training. For now, the bike will have to do.
I’m not sure what the problem was. I think maybe I was running too much on the outside of my foot because after the run, during my cool down, I made an effort to walk more on the middle of my foot and the muscles seemed to respond well to that. All in all, I was not happy with that run.
Today, I went to the gym around 1 PM. I stretched then walked my usual 5 minute warm up at a gradually increasing pace up to about 3.5 mph. Saturdays are my “long” run days, and will continue to be once I begin running in the mornings and outdoors. Today was no different. Instead of the usual 30 minutes, I jacked it up to all of 60 minutes. I kept the same formula, though (9 minutes running, 1 minute walking). And just like yesterday, I got to about the one mile mark and those same muscles started burning again! I started to get pissed off but then focused on assessing the problem and trying to fix it so as not to ruin my run. My novice opinion is that I was running with some tension in my legs in addition to running too far on the outside of my foot. The combination put too much stress on those muscles, making them hurt. I think this because at one point, I just tried and release all the tension in my legs and “just run”. I find that as I run, I build up tension in my shoulders and arms, which I have to be mindful to release. I think that was the case here in my legs as well. Once I did that and just ran and didn’t worry so much about my stride, etc, the pain started to subside. A few miles later, it was gone and I was feeling better and getting into a nice groove. The trick will be seeing if I can replicate that solution on Monday (my next running day; tomorrow is an off day with some biking).
Anyway, once I got that out of the way, I was able to focus on actually running. I finally broke the 5 mile barrier today (5.2 miles in total), which was very encouraging. No real problems, although I started to get tired after the 40 minute mark. However, I pressed on and only had to walk an extra 30 seconds on the final walking period. Other than that, I kept my speed of 5.3 mph (an improvement of 0.6 mph from where I began three weeks ago!) throughout the run. Overall I was very pleased.
Like I said, tomorrow is all about cross training with the stationary bike. Annie leaves for Rome on Wednesday, which will give me a month to concentrate on running and building a more effective cross training schedule involving some weight training. For now, the bike will have to do.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Back in the Saddle Again
I once read a statistic that said that somewhere north of 50% of all blogs on the Internet at any given time are no longer updated on a regular basis. Well, as a writer of several failed blogs, I can attest to the accuracy of that stat. I just lose my momentum after a while and then never get back to posting on a regular basis. This almost happened to this blog too, although I’m going to do my best not to give in to the laziness factor.
So, that being said, I’m going to get back to posting. After some careful thought, I’ve decided that rather than make this a blog that is 75% baseball and 25% running, I would make it a blog that is 85% running and 15% baseball. To be honest, I just don’t have the time to watch every Nats game on MASN and when they play teams like Detroit, it can be depressing to watch them at all. Better to watch select games while maintaining my love for the team. I did watch the entire series here in Baltimore (and was at the game that ended with Felipe Lopez’s fantastic triple in extra innings. Annie and I were the only ones wearing Nats colors in our section at Camden Yards. It was awesome!).
But working on my running and training has become something I do everyday in one way or another and so I think this blog would be better served as a running diary of sorts. At this point it’s going to be a very humble diary, much like my running. No huge lofty goals in the immediate future, but I hope that when I run my first 5K (I don’t know if I’ll be ready for the Cooperstown 5K in mid-July, but definitely for the Get Ready! Get Set! Get Fit 5K in September) this summer, and my future races, that this site will be an electronic record of that.
So, without further ado, let’s get going!
Yesterday was a running day. As a very new beginner, I’ve been undertaking a multi-week program to get me up to running non-stop for 30 minutes. At that point, I will start working on both endurance (running longer than 30 minutes without stopping) and speed since I will have the physical base finally established. I started out two weeks ago running 8 minutes, then walking 2 minutes, repeated three times at about 4.7 mph. Now, in the third week, I’m up to running 9 minutes, walking 1 minute, repeated three times at 5.5 mph. I’m really pleased with this modest improvement. Next week I jump up to running 13 minutes, walking for 2 minutes, repeated twice. I think I’ll be OK because even now, I’m not exhausted when I reach that 9 minute mark. I feel that I could comfortably run longer but I’m not going to push it quite yet. Maybe once I get this program done.
So, this program will end the week before the Road to Cooperstown 5K, which is my ambitious first race goal. I’m not sure if I’ll make that deadline or not, and I haven’t signed up for the race yet. I’ll see how I progress over the next few weeks and make a decision.
Beyond this summer, I know I will be ready to run some 5K’s come September. There’s one in Towson I want to run in September; the United Way 5K, which is associated with the Baltimore Marathon, is in mid-October; and I can decide between the Turkey Trot in Bel Air (if they’re having it this year) or the Rothman Institute 8K, which is associated with the Philadelphia Marathon, on November 18. Wrapping up the year is the Jingle Bell 5K here in lovely Baltimore, in early December. At that point, I think I will go into winter training mode and begin working towards my 2008 race goals, which are still rather vague, but inspiring.
By the time the 2008 running season gets started in March, I plan on being well on my way to marathon range. In fact, my hope is to start really ramping up my mileage around Thanksgiving, peaking about 12-16 weeks later. That would put me in great shape (literally and figuratively) for the first race of my 2008 season, the Baltimore Shamrock 5K around St. Patrick’s Day. Depending on how my training is going, March will also mark the time when the lottery for the Mt. Washington Road Race is held. I doubt I’ll be picked, but you never know and it’s an incredible challenge to undertake. 7.6 miles of one mountain, rising like 4,000 feet. Crazy! And at the end of March is the Washington, D.C. National Marathon, which I may or may not be ready for. Perhaps the half marathon is a more realistic goal.
April is an open month right now, as I haven’t come across a race that I want to do yet, but I’m sure there’ll be one 5K in there. May is the killer month, as it’ll mark many milestones in the year. I plan on taking the LSAT in June of 08, which means May will be an intensive studying month. I also plan to run my first half marathon the first weekend of May at the Flying Pig in Cincinnati. My girlfriend’s family lives in Cincinnati, so it’ll be a nice chance to visit them and to take a big step in my running progression. If all goes according to plan, I should be very capable of running 13 miles by that point, and it shouldn’t kill my body. In fact, with any luck, I may even get really confident and go ahead and make Flying Pig my first marathon. But that’s only if I’m doing well in my training come March.
Other than that, next summer will be for running some shorter races and training up for the marathon season. I’m definitely running the Baltimore marathon in October ’08 since it’s my hometown race. And if I can muster the strength and avoid injury, I’d like to do Marine Corps as well.
So, as you can see, I have some very lofty long-term goals for myself. It’s hard not to get ahead of myself, but I got to just keep focused on the next run and make progress. It’ll happen and I hope this blog will be around to document it.
Links to Check Out:
Charm City Run : A central site for Baltimore-area racing.
Baltimore Running Festival : Official site of the Baltimore Marathon, Half Marathon, 5K, etc.
Philadelphia Marathon: Official site of the Philadelphia Marathon, Rothman 8K, etc.
Mt. Washington Road Race
National Marathon
Flying Pig Marathon
Marine Corps Marathon
So, that being said, I’m going to get back to posting. After some careful thought, I’ve decided that rather than make this a blog that is 75% baseball and 25% running, I would make it a blog that is 85% running and 15% baseball. To be honest, I just don’t have the time to watch every Nats game on MASN and when they play teams like Detroit, it can be depressing to watch them at all. Better to watch select games while maintaining my love for the team. I did watch the entire series here in Baltimore (and was at the game that ended with Felipe Lopez’s fantastic triple in extra innings. Annie and I were the only ones wearing Nats colors in our section at Camden Yards. It was awesome!).
But working on my running and training has become something I do everyday in one way or another and so I think this blog would be better served as a running diary of sorts. At this point it’s going to be a very humble diary, much like my running. No huge lofty goals in the immediate future, but I hope that when I run my first 5K (I don’t know if I’ll be ready for the Cooperstown 5K in mid-July, but definitely for the Get Ready! Get Set! Get Fit 5K in September) this summer, and my future races, that this site will be an electronic record of that.
So, without further ado, let’s get going!
Yesterday was a running day. As a very new beginner, I’ve been undertaking a multi-week program to get me up to running non-stop for 30 minutes. At that point, I will start working on both endurance (running longer than 30 minutes without stopping) and speed since I will have the physical base finally established. I started out two weeks ago running 8 minutes, then walking 2 minutes, repeated three times at about 4.7 mph. Now, in the third week, I’m up to running 9 minutes, walking 1 minute, repeated three times at 5.5 mph. I’m really pleased with this modest improvement. Next week I jump up to running 13 minutes, walking for 2 minutes, repeated twice. I think I’ll be OK because even now, I’m not exhausted when I reach that 9 minute mark. I feel that I could comfortably run longer but I’m not going to push it quite yet. Maybe once I get this program done.
So, this program will end the week before the Road to Cooperstown 5K, which is my ambitious first race goal. I’m not sure if I’ll make that deadline or not, and I haven’t signed up for the race yet. I’ll see how I progress over the next few weeks and make a decision.
Beyond this summer, I know I will be ready to run some 5K’s come September. There’s one in Towson I want to run in September; the United Way 5K, which is associated with the Baltimore Marathon, is in mid-October; and I can decide between the Turkey Trot in Bel Air (if they’re having it this year) or the Rothman Institute 8K, which is associated with the Philadelphia Marathon, on November 18. Wrapping up the year is the Jingle Bell 5K here in lovely Baltimore, in early December. At that point, I think I will go into winter training mode and begin working towards my 2008 race goals, which are still rather vague, but inspiring.
By the time the 2008 running season gets started in March, I plan on being well on my way to marathon range. In fact, my hope is to start really ramping up my mileage around Thanksgiving, peaking about 12-16 weeks later. That would put me in great shape (literally and figuratively) for the first race of my 2008 season, the Baltimore Shamrock 5K around St. Patrick’s Day. Depending on how my training is going, March will also mark the time when the lottery for the Mt. Washington Road Race is held. I doubt I’ll be picked, but you never know and it’s an incredible challenge to undertake. 7.6 miles of one mountain, rising like 4,000 feet. Crazy! And at the end of March is the Washington, D.C. National Marathon, which I may or may not be ready for. Perhaps the half marathon is a more realistic goal.
April is an open month right now, as I haven’t come across a race that I want to do yet, but I’m sure there’ll be one 5K in there. May is the killer month, as it’ll mark many milestones in the year. I plan on taking the LSAT in June of 08, which means May will be an intensive studying month. I also plan to run my first half marathon the first weekend of May at the Flying Pig in Cincinnati. My girlfriend’s family lives in Cincinnati, so it’ll be a nice chance to visit them and to take a big step in my running progression. If all goes according to plan, I should be very capable of running 13 miles by that point, and it shouldn’t kill my body. In fact, with any luck, I may even get really confident and go ahead and make Flying Pig my first marathon. But that’s only if I’m doing well in my training come March.
Other than that, next summer will be for running some shorter races and training up for the marathon season. I’m definitely running the Baltimore marathon in October ’08 since it’s my hometown race. And if I can muster the strength and avoid injury, I’d like to do Marine Corps as well.
So, as you can see, I have some very lofty long-term goals for myself. It’s hard not to get ahead of myself, but I got to just keep focused on the next run and make progress. It’ll happen and I hope this blog will be around to document it.
Links to Check Out:
Charm City Run : A central site for Baltimore-area racing.
Baltimore Running Festival : Official site of the Baltimore Marathon, Half Marathon, 5K, etc.
Philadelphia Marathon: Official site of the Philadelphia Marathon, Rothman 8K, etc.
Mt. Washington Road Race
National Marathon
Flying Pig Marathon
Marine Corps Marathon
Monday, June 4, 2007
For Once, I Agree with Boz
A quick post today, as the last few days I’ve written long posts, only to forget to upload them to the damn site. Maybe if I try top keep the posts shorter, I’ll not feel like waiting until later to actually post them on the site? Eh, probably not but until I can write a few paragraphs and post it reliably, I’m going to stop the long posts.
Anyway, check out Thomas Boswell’s latest column. For once, I actually think the entire column is on target and doesn’t have a tinge of Boz’s incessant neurotic nagging. When Manny was hired as the youngest manager in MLB, I admit that I was skeptical. Most of that skepticism was due to me knot knowing much about him or his experience. But the first third of the season is over and I really like him, both as a manager and a guy in general. He seems like the perfect guy for a rebuilding team like the Nats. And you can tell that he’s also learning the job of manager, too. Anyway, check it out. I know I may sound naïve, but the more I learn about the actual makeup of the club (Kasten, the Lerners, Manny, even Bow Bow), the more confident I become that the future of the Nats is a bright one. Maybe not this season or next, but noone said rebuilding a franchise would be a short or easy process. That being said, I think Bow Bow remains the weak link in all that and his days might be numbered once 2007 turns to 2008. Just a hunch.
On the running front, I had a good weekend of workouts. Yesterday I walked/ran 3.4 miles. I would run for two minutes and then walk for 2 minutes over a 45 minute total period of time. I’ve outlined my training schedule through July 21, when the Road to Cooperstown 5K takes place. I can train up to 3 miles by then. I’m also going to consider running a race in mid-August and mid-September, ending my first running season with the United Way 5K run that’s held as part of the Baltimore Running Festival o October 13.
Anyway, check out Thomas Boswell’s latest column. For once, I actually think the entire column is on target and doesn’t have a tinge of Boz’s incessant neurotic nagging. When Manny was hired as the youngest manager in MLB, I admit that I was skeptical. Most of that skepticism was due to me knot knowing much about him or his experience. But the first third of the season is over and I really like him, both as a manager and a guy in general. He seems like the perfect guy for a rebuilding team like the Nats. And you can tell that he’s also learning the job of manager, too. Anyway, check it out. I know I may sound naïve, but the more I learn about the actual makeup of the club (Kasten, the Lerners, Manny, even Bow Bow), the more confident I become that the future of the Nats is a bright one. Maybe not this season or next, but noone said rebuilding a franchise would be a short or easy process. That being said, I think Bow Bow remains the weak link in all that and his days might be numbered once 2007 turns to 2008. Just a hunch.
On the running front, I had a good weekend of workouts. Yesterday I walked/ran 3.4 miles. I would run for two minutes and then walk for 2 minutes over a 45 minute total period of time. I’ve outlined my training schedule through July 21, when the Road to Cooperstown 5K takes place. I can train up to 3 miles by then. I’m also going to consider running a race in mid-August and mid-September, ending my first running season with the United Way 5K run that’s held as part of the Baltimore Running Festival o October 13.
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